Locally this pic has no comedy value so this one is for our friends outside of South Africa. I guess it's a bit like Spotted Dick, we Brits see nothing funny about it but the Yanks find it highly amusing!
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The Finnie family in Blighty, December 2021
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Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering together -
The Gathering -
Baptisms at The Gathering -
Preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen -
Soup Kitchen Welcome To 2022 lunch
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Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng -
Thankful Thursdays -
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HOPE Home Based Care Team -
Gathering Ground -
Staying fit as a family -
The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
For those of you not in Facebook you might not know about my latest escapade.On Wednesday I joined Eli's class as a helping/responsible parent on their ice skating trip to Grand West ice rink. We had a great time and a lot of fun was had by all. Eli took to the ice like the proverbial duck to water and was very pleased with himself. I on the other hand didn't have such a good time of it and came home with a rather splendid souvenir!
His main passage was Luke 9: 59-62 "He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.""
Today is the International Day of the African Child and this year marks the 35th anniversary since the brutal murder of over 100 children and thousand more injured in Soweto by the apartheid regime in South Africa.The children were protesting against being forced to learn in Afrikaans, demanding instead (and not unreasonably so) to be educated in their own languages.
This morning I had the pleasure of attending the Father's Day celebrations at the boys school.The school had gone to town in making the hall look great with muffins, coffee and chocolates galore for the dads. The children performed a great array of pieces from songs and poems to dances and jokes.
All the children did really well but I was particularly proud of my boys!
I give blood for a very simple reason.When my younger brother was dying from Leukaemia he was often asked "What can I do for you?" His response was always the same "Give blood!"
Blood was literally my brother's lifeline.
To not give is simply selfish! To not give because you're scared of needles or some other rubbish is simply pathetic!
Ask yourself one question. When I'm sick or hurt and need blood, who's going to give it to me?
Dean had the privilege of attending the Miles 4 Smiles assembly at the boys school this morning.
We love how good the school is at getting involved in stuff but the way they get involved in this particular charity is quite amazing. Between the children in this picture they raised just over R34,000 (£3100) which will be used by Operation Smile for corrective surgery for children with cleft palates.
A little while ago we posted about Book Week at the boys school.Both boys loved dressing up and Eli went as an Alien who Loves Underpants. He was particularly pleased with his costume, as he got to fulfill a bit of an ambition by wearing a pair of underpants on his head to school. What made it even better for him was the fact that the teachers loved it!
Well it truly paid off for Eli as he was presented with the prize for best book week costume in the junior school.
So said Eli yesterday when he put on his very first pair of glasses! After 20 months of visits and tests and eye exercises it was finally agreed that Eli should start wearing glasses. Though he does need them all the time we are starting off with just TV, work on the whiteboard at school etc to get him used to wearing them and in the hope of preserving their life. Odds are already on on how long Eli will make a pair of glasses last!!We remain so thankful to God for His healing work in Eli’s eyes. We have known for a long time that he has been experiencing sight difficulties but had not realised the extent until the first round of testing when he was just 3 years old. It was explained to us that not only does he quite serious myopia but he also had a stigmatism which meant that his retinas were shaped like rugby balls. The odds were truly stacked against him.
Not many people in life could ever come close to being a new mum - well Aunty Poppy is one such amazing lady! We ask you all dear friends to please call out to God for the health of our wonderful friend. She is currently in ICU at our local hospital having suffered a heart attack. Paula had a precious 10 mins alone with her tonight before it seemed like half of Chris Nissen Park turned up to visit (!) - so popular and loved is this woman!! Unfortunately, the nurse wasn't having it and we were all asked to move on!!
So Harold Camping and his sect have come up with a convoluted mathematical formula to determine exactly when the day of judgement will be.
Once again the boys's school demonstrated this week why we love it so much and appreciate the wholistic approach to education that they excel at! This week was the beloved annual book week! Everyday the school had come up with various activities for the children to join in and to grow in their love and appreciation of books and reading. For example, one day they were allowed to go to school in their pyjamas and had hot chocolate.For the whole week they were given a 'reading buddy' from a higher year and every time the bell sounded they had to Drop Everything And Read (DEAR), grab their buddy and go for it - how cool is that! Each day there was a quotation competition for the kids to have a go at guessing and winning a prize (Joel was thrilled to win on Thursday when he guessed the quote from Charlotte's Web!) and they also ran an all-week photo competition with various staff and pupils hiding behind their favourite titles!
Tonight's choice, after mummy had already read the next chapter of Charlie And The Chocolate factory, was Charlie Cook's Favourite Book which is a classic Julia Donaldson tale which goes full circle to end where it began.
Hmmm, think I need to join my boys in the land of nod, accompanied of course by a good book.
Once again the boys woke early and full of excitement as the annual Miles for Smiles event had dawned at the beautiful Lourensford Wine Estate. This year for the first time both boys could ride their bikes unaided (no baby wheels) and had therefore been practicing in earnest for the event. They gathered some great sponsorship along with the added incentive of extra money if they reached so many laps!
Had such a fun type ‘holiday weekend’ this past 72 hours with lovely friend Jo (in the blue car!). We had been planning for ages to celebrate her “coming off of crutches/drugs” and so had a wonderful lazy lunch together. Was so good to have all that child-free/work-free time just to catch up properly, alongside another magnificent lunch – the diet definitely starts in June!! Then came the highlight of the week for Eli as Jo had promised to be his bunk buddy one night. Still don’t think Eli can believe that she actually did stay over in his bunk bed – lots of laughs!
Sometimes in life special people get rewarded. I was so thrilled to see that our local community newspaper printed an article on my HOPE Home Based Care team. We were recently blessed for lunch by our friends at Taste Restaurant and the paper picked up on it. Let's hope we get some local interest, these amazing women do what they do for nothing!
After the horrific fires of two years ago when just about everything on the Hottentots Holland mountains was burnt between Gordon's Bay and Jonkershoek we'd have hoped we might have learnt our lessons. Apparently not!
Word locally is that the Erinvale estate had a 'controlled' fire earlier in the week and today's fire is a result of a flare up from the controlled fire. So much for controlled, if it's true.
Forgive me if I'm wrong here but...
I kind of thought that if one genuinely seeks restoration of friendship then one needs to acknowledge that friendship has broken down. If one acknowledges that friendship has broken down one needs to acknowledge that one played a part in that breakdown. If one acknowledges that one had a part to play in that breakdown then one needs to express a degree of sorrow or remorse for their part in that.
Surely then, if one then sits there and claims "I feel I have nothing to apologise for!" then clearly one is not genuinely seeking restoration.
As I say, I may be wrong, but I'm very open to discussing it. Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
I kind of thought that if one genuinely seeks restoration of friendship then one needs to acknowledge that friendship has broken down. If one acknowledges that friendship has broken down one needs to acknowledge that one played a part in that breakdown. If one acknowledges that one had a part to play in that breakdown then one needs to express a degree of sorrow or remorse for their part in that.
Surely then, if one then sits there and claims "I feel I have nothing to apologise for!" then clearly one is not genuinely seeking restoration.
As I say, I may be wrong, but I'm very open to discussing it. Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
The high just gets higher as today we're off for two nights without the boys. We're sloping off to our favourite retreat in Pringle Bay whilst the boys will be in the very capable hands of
I'm also looking forward to a meeting on Friday. Whilst it's not a meeting I particularly want it should be a time of laying to rest a lot of the nonsense of the last few months.
To top it all off I've been invited to preach again and am really looking forward to it on Sunday. That'll be twice in a month which is a bit of a novelty.
Bring it on!
Let me start by telling you a bit about these guys...
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